I am writing a young adult mystery. I am 23 now and have been trying various plot lines since I was 16. I am becoming frustrated. Can someone please help me?
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Help!
- Thread starter AllyWoof
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I have been trying various plots and they sound great in theory. But, when I try to write them, the ideas get all jumbled.
Not one of them jumps out at you? Do you use Yahoo messenger or AIM, maybe trotting the plots past a different person might open a few doors. I'm available if you feel that might be of some help?
How do you go about writing them? Are you outlining at all, starting from a beginning scene and pushing on, writing scenes as you think of them or as they sound interesting...?
There are a bunch of different techniques you could try (most of which I've been learning here - I'm 27 and unpublished, trying to finish a novel for the first time).
A kind of loose outlining has been helping me -- not listing things out, but just letting my narrator/main character talk and see where she goes with it. That let me figure out about what the main story arc is. Other people do more detailed kinds of outlines depending on what works for them.
Another option if you know more or less what happens in the story might be to start breaking it down by scenes -- what's the main conflict of the scene, what's the character trying to accomplish in the scene, etc.
I'm not sure exactly where you're running into problems, but hopefully one of those ideas will help, or someone with more experience will chime in. You might also look around some of the other threads to see what ideas people have discussed already.
There are a bunch of different techniques you could try (most of which I've been learning here - I'm 27 and unpublished, trying to finish a novel for the first time).
A kind of loose outlining has been helping me -- not listing things out, but just letting my narrator/main character talk and see where she goes with it. That let me figure out about what the main story arc is. Other people do more detailed kinds of outlines depending on what works for them.
Another option if you know more or less what happens in the story might be to start breaking it down by scenes -- what's the main conflict of the scene, what's the character trying to accomplish in the scene, etc.
I'm not sure exactly where you're running into problems, but hopefully one of those ideas will help, or someone with more experience will chime in. You might also look around some of the other threads to see what ideas people have discussed already.
I've seen you post in a few places here, and it seems like you are looking for someone to hand you your finished story. No one can write it but you, and no one else can tell you what ideas to write about or what plot you should pick. Just take your idea and run. Don't slow down long enough for doubt to catch you. Once you have a first draft, pick it apart all you want, but you have to get that first draft down first.
That's the problem, though - we have no idea what you need. The best advice that I ever got was to just sit down and WRITE. If you get stuck on a particular point, then ask about that.
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I agree with Wildscribe. One of the best pieces of advice I got on here when I was stuggling with story lines, was, "write to the end."
Writing isn't easy, and you just have to keep ploughing through. Then when you get to the end it may just be that you have to hack out characters or scenes or individual plots - so be it.
Writing isn't easy, and you just have to keep ploughing through. Then when you get to the end it may just be that you have to hack out characters or scenes or individual plots - so be it.
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Oh dear Writerdog, you didn't even spell lemonade correctly so how can you hope to master developing a plot and characters and make it interesting as well if you don't care enough to ensure the details of this CRAFT are correct?
Writing is like shaving for a man, if you don't do it every day you're a bum.
I agree loosely with some of the above comments, write a few dozen bad plots until you get sick of it and then write a good one that works. It is called trial and error and it is the simple principle Thomas A. Edison followed and to which he attribted his entire fortune and success.
Remember the art of story-telling is to take a likeable or sympathetic character and give them some hurdles over which they must climb to get the something they think they must have for happiness. Make those hurdles high and various and throw in a bit of slap and tickle and slinky underwear and a gun or two and some interesting backdrops sprinkled with salty language and you've got a blockbuster.
Never give in or ask for help, just get on with it. Read more.
This thread is dead. Next!
Writing is like shaving for a man, if you don't do it every day you're a bum.
I agree loosely with some of the above comments, write a few dozen bad plots until you get sick of it and then write a good one that works. It is called trial and error and it is the simple principle Thomas A. Edison followed and to which he attribted his entire fortune and success.
Remember the art of story-telling is to take a likeable or sympathetic character and give them some hurdles over which they must climb to get the something they think they must have for happiness. Make those hurdles high and various and throw in a bit of slap and tickle and slinky underwear and a gun or two and some interesting backdrops sprinkled with salty language and you've got a blockbuster.
Never give in or ask for help, just get on with it. Read more.
This thread is dead. Next!
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proofeditwrite said:
How dare you...We encourage people on here not poke fun at their spelling or anything else that would deliberately hurt their feelings.
And why did you bring this thread up to hurt her and then declare it closed?
Proofeditwrite, you don't know me. I have very poor tracking skills. I am also dyslexic. I suggest very strongly you get your fact straight before you go off on others.
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writerdog said:
Writerdog, just ignore proof. You are right he doesn't know you.
Hey sweetie I was just thinking about how far you have come on the boards and how great you are doing.
Oh and by the way pull up your dating thread and tell us about it...I hope you went and had fun.
hugs kimmi
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